We’ve got a few smaller bits of Star Trek-related goodies to share this evening. Two new images from director J.J. Abrams’ sequel Star Trek Into Darkness have landed online, giving us new looks at Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) as well as Kirk and the villainous John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch). Speaking of villainy, following numerous back and forth reports and rumors regarding the nature of Cumberbatch’s character, Into Darkness star Alice Eve recently spoke up to claim that Cumberbatch is “not playing Khan.”

Moreover, Simon Pegg also recently made a few headlines with some red carpet comments, as he spoke about the prospect of Abrams returning to direct Star Trek 3 in lieu of the filmmaker’s impending Star Wars: Episode VII duties. Hit the jump to read on.

First we’ll get to the images, which were recently released by way of the film’s official app.

And now we’ll move right into the nature of Cumberbatch’s role. At this point there have been so many rumors and murmurs that Cumberbatch is/is not playing Khan that it seems futile to continue to guess. Alas, Alice Eve may or may not have added fuel to the fire by claiming in an interview that Cumberbatch is not playing Khan. It’s clear that Abrams and his cast are doing everything they can to hold all the film’s surprises until it’s released, so I really wouldn’t read too much into these comments as anything solid one way or the other. Nevertheless, watch the video below (via /Film):

Additionally, comments from Simon Pegg momentarily sent the internets aflutter this past weekend when he said that Abrams will be doing Star Trek 3, even though the filmmaker’s recent commitment to the new Star Wars film makes that prospect fairly unlikely. Soon after the story caught on, Pegg took to Twitter to clarify his comments:

Just to be clear, contrary to reports in the press, I have no idea whether or not JJ will helm Star Trek 3.

COLLIDER participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COLLIDER gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive.